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Monday, May 15, 2017

Arctic Nations to Meet Amid Unsettled U.S. Stance on Climate Change

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — As Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson heads to Alaska on Wednesday for talks on Arctic issues, he finds himself in climate policy limbo, preparing for a meeting at which global warming will be front and center yet representing an administration that is still on the fence about fighting it.

Mr. Tillerson’s appearance Thursday morning at a meeting of the Arctic Council, with the foreign ministers of Russia, Canada and the five other nations with Arctic territory, is expected to be taken up largely by formalities. Officials will most likely approve a measure to improve scientific cooperation in the region, and Mr. Tillerson will turn over the rotating chairmanship of the intergovernmental organization, which the United States has held for two years, to Finland.

Mr. Tillerson is also expected to hold one-on-one talks with some of his counterparts, although an anticipated meeting between him and the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, will now take place earlier on Wednesday in Washington before the men fly separately to Alaska.

If there is to be drama in Fairbanks, it may come in the form of the traditional closing statement, and how much it refers to global warming broadly or specifically to the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord, in which the United States and most other nations agreed to reduce their carbon emissions. Negotiations have been continuing for weeks on the language of the statement, which is approved by consensus.

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